You’re Going to Miss It

By Michelle Zunter

One day you’re going to miss it. One day there will be a peaceful silence while you go to the bathroom instead of small hands busting through the door or someone wailing bloody murder outside with an owie until you jump off the toilet holding your pants in a panic.

One day you’ll miss the frantic desperation of never catching up because one day everything will catch up. Your children will grow up and you will eventually get a decent break. One day.

So savor the good times now, right? Not so easy. But I tell myselfall the time that one day you’re going to miss it.

This is the thing I tell myself day in and day out when I’m on the verge of losing my sh*t. This mantra keeps me going because no matter how cliche it sounds, it’s true. I need this running thought in my head especially now as summer break has peeked through the curtains, ready and waiting for the show (circus).

One day there won’t be baskets of laundry overflowing with play clothes, gym clothes, or uniforms. One day there won’t be endless piles of dishes in the sink.

And you’re going to miss it.

You’re going to miss someone needing you all the time. You’re going to miss being called out for maybe a hundred times a day for all things great and small.

One day there won’t be anyone around to worry about entertaining on school breaks because they’ll have their own lives, friends, and passions.

That life you think you can’t wait for now – perhaps for time alone with your spouse, time alone with yourself – or just some time, period – will come and then it will all be done. All the irritation over mud on the floor, stains on the carpet or messy rooms never cleaned will be washed away with the tides of life.